Mikhail Valentinovich Kovalchuk (; born 21 September 1946) is a Russian physicist and official. He is a brother of Yury Kovalchuk, known as " Putin's personal banker".

Political activity

Since May 26, 2000 Mikhail Kovalchuk has been a Corresponding Member of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

(RAS) in physics. Since 2001 he has been the Scientific Secretary of the Council for Science and High Technologies attached to the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Since February 2005 he has been the Director of the

Kurchatov Institute The Kurchatov Institute (, National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute") is Russia's leading research and development institution in the field of nuclear power, nuclear energy. It is named after Igor Kurchatov and is located at 1 Kurchatov Sq ...

. In June 2007 by a decision of the RAS Presidium Mikhail Kovalchuk was appointed acting vice-president of the Academy for

nanotechnology Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers (nm). At this scale, commonly known as the nanoscale, surface area and quantum mechanical effects become important in describing propertie ...

. As the Academy Charter stipulates that only full members are eligible for vice-presidency, Kovalchuk, being a corresponding member, can only be acting vice-president, unless the Charter is modified or he is elected full member. Despite pressure from

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

, the RAS rejected Kovalchuk's application for full membership in May 2008. This was seen as the first major blow to Putin's authority since coming to power in 2000 as there was speculation that Putin had wanted Kovalchuk to become President of the RAS. In June 2023, he was also appointed President of the Polytechnic Museum.

References

1946 births Living people Scientists from Saint Petersburg Members of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation Russian physicists Russian politicians Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Academic staff of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Full Cavaliers of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" {{Russia-politician-stub